Drafting apparatus for textile fibers



July 30, 1968 G. v. SUMNER DRAFTING APPARATUS FOR? TEXTILE FIBERS 2Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 17, 1966 FIG.2

INVENTOR.

GEORGE V. SUMNER Y E ATTORNEYS y 30, 1968 G. v. SUMNER DRAFTINGAPPARATUS FOR TEXTILE FIBERS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 17, 1966INVENTOR.

GEORGE V. SUMNER fl wed M ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,394,436DRAFTING APPARATUS FOR TEXTILE FIBERS George V. Sumner, Columbia, S.C.,assignor to Sumner Company, Inc., a corporation of South CarolinaContinuation-impart of application Ser. No. 436,580, Mar. 2, 1965. Thisapplication Nov. 17, 1966, Ser. No. 595,168

21 Claims. (Cl. 19-243) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The combing anddrafting of textile fibers, particularly woolen and synthetic fibers ofvarious staple lengths such, for example, as from two to ten inches inlength by a main rotary pin drum with which one or more pin worker rollscooperate to engage the fibers and comb and draw them as they are fedthrough the machine by the grip of faster traveling delivery rollsassisted by the pin rolls as they engage the fibers.

Cross reference to related application This invention is acontinuation-in-part of my application, Ser. No. 436,580, filed Mar. 2,1965, and now abandoned.

Background of the invention In the processing of textile fibers of thestaple above referred to, gill boxes with reciprocating needle bars aremost generally used. These machines are relatively com' plicated andexpensive and limited in their speed of operation by reason of theirreciprocating motions. Also a plurality of these machines are requiredin the processing of fibers to a point accomplished by the presentinvention in a single apparatus. Other machines of various forms havebeen attempted but for one reason or another have never been generallyused.

Summary I have provided a plurality of heads each of which, as shown inFIG. 5, has a rotary main large drum or cylinder covered with cardclothing, and I have led to and about a guide across the face of thecylinder and below its axis, material which will extend about thecylinder to a greater extent than half of its circumference, and again:at a low point with reference to the cylinder, I have provided adelivery means which travels at a speed much higher than the surfacespeed of the cylinder so as to draw the fibers from the cylinder at afaster rate than the cylinder is traveling and feeding the fibers, thusattenuating the fibers something in the ratio of as 1 is to 3 to 10. Oneor more relatively smaller working rolls are provided with card clothing:and located at a predetermined point or points about the main cylinderwhich provide a means to give an earlier drafting action to the fibersin one or more stages, followed by the final drafting by the deliveryrolls. A plurality of these heads are arranged in parallel as shown inFIG. 1 to receive a plurality of card slivers while the delivery from aplurality of heads is fed in parallel to a final head which delivers toone or more coilers or top making mechanisms.

Description of the drawings FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic plan view of themachine;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic plan view of the drive for the machine;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 1 of a modification;

FIG. 4 is an elevation of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a side elevation largely diagrammatic illustrating theessential parts of one head of the invention;

3,394,436 Patented July 30, 1968 ice Description of the preferredembodiments With reference to the drawings in FIG. 1, there are aplurality heads, here shown as four, 10, 11, 12, 13, although thisnumber may be varied, each of which receives a plurality of cardslivers, here shown as six, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 from a yarn convertersuch for example as a card machine. Each of the four heads delivers itssliver or work as at 22, 23, 24, 25 which slivers are turned about posts26, 27, 28, 29, or other means to align the sliver so as to be fed ingenerally parallel relation as at 30, 31, 32, 33 into one or more heads35 which is so driven that there is no slack in any of the slivers fedthereto. From this head 35 or heads the work may emerge as a singledrafted end and is coiled by a coiler head or top making equipment 36into a can or barrel 37.

In some cases as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, instead of arranging to leadthe combed and drawn fibers from each of the heads 10, 11, 12 and 13 asshown in FIG. 1, I pass the combed and drawn fibers from each of theseheads through a pair of guide posts and 111 and then over a roll 112which is inclined at about 45 to the path of travel, passing thesefibers over the top of the roll and around the roll so as to extend themas at 113 at right angles to their path from the guides 110, 111. Thedrawn fibers from each of the heads are similarly arranged. However, thefibers from these four heads are arranged in two groups so that thefibers 113a coming from head 11 are superimposed upon the fibers 113from head 10. Likewise, the fibers 1130 emerging from the head 13 aresuperimposed upon the fibers 113b from head 12 (as seen in FIG. 4). Thefibers of the two groups are somewhat ltaerally arranged as seen in FIG.3 and the fibers of the first group are above and spaced from the fibersof the second group so that the fibers of the two groups do not touch.Guides 118 and 119 assist in the separation of the groups. The fibers inthese two groups with their layers in this superimposed relation thenenter a head 35 as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 with one layer over the otherrather than one layer horizontally beside the other as shown in FIG. 1,and these two groups of fibers are again combed and drawn in the head 35in spaced relation axial of the head 35. In this case I have chosen toguide the fibers so that one half of the fibers or one group of fiberspass into a condenser tube 114 and coiler 115 and the other half orother group of the fibers pass into the condenser tube 116 and thecoiler 117. The processes of FIGS. 1 and 3 are similar except for thevertical and horizontal arrangement of the fibers.

Each of the heads 10, 11, 12, 13 and 35 is essentially the same andprovides a combing and attenuation of the fibers of the slivers fedthrough it and may be best described with reference to FIG. 5 where theWork is designated generally 40 and is led in about a guide or rod 41having a fixed cylindrical surface, thence over a main cylinder or drum42 covered as at 43 with card clothing having pins 44 extendingtherefrom and inclined rearwardly from a radius advancing in thedirection of surface movement. This card clothing may be canvas backedor metallic -with the pins substantially one quarter of an inchprotrusion beyond its base. The work material of some thickness isdisposed at the ends of the pins and then led to be engaged by one ormore workor pin rolls 45, 45' and then to a delivery means designatedgenerally 46. The delivery means comprises a pair of steel fluted rolls47 and 48 with a roll 49 covered as at 50 with resilient rubber which isurged toward the spaced fluted rolls 47 and 48. The material isdelivered as at 51. Each of the working rolls 45 or 45 is covered withcard clothing 52 of the same general character as the card clothing 43and 44 and having spikes or pins 53 similarly inclined rearwardly. Theposition of each worker roll is such that it is spaced from the maincylinder by a gauged distance dependent on the character of the work.

It will be noted that the material is fed in at substantially point 55where it is tangent to the guide 41 and is fed from the head atsubstantially point 51 or 56 where it contacts with the upper roll 49,50 of the delivery means. The pin cylinder 42 is offset from a straightline between the feeding-in means and the delivery means by the axis ofroll 42, being well above a straight line between these two parts sothat the work will be disposed about a greater than half thecircumference of the pin drum 42, thus providing a suflicient contact ofthe pins with the work even though riding on the ends of the pins so asto cause a feeding of the work into the machine while also providing asuflicient holdback for the work being urged into the pins so that thedrafting and delivery means 46 will by reason of its faster surfacespeed draw the fibers one from the other and deliver them anywhere fromthree to ten times faster than they are fed into the head or heads.

A drafting and combing operation occurs by reason of working pin rolls45 operating at a surface speed slower than the surface speed of themain cylinder or roll 42. There may be two working pin rolls 45, 45 suchas shown in FIG. 5, and when there are two they will operate atdifferent surface speeds with the first one at a slower surface speedthan the subsequently operating one. It is found that the fibers as ledonto the main roll 42 will remain substantially at the ends of the pinsand extend radially outwardly of the pins on the main roll. The firstworking pin roll 45 with which the fibers engage will tend to pull thefibers away from the main roll and into the pins of the slower operatingworking roll at 57, thus causing a drawing of the fibers through thepins of the first working roll 45 to obtain a combing and draftingaction. Similarly, the second working roll 45 will pick up the fibers asthey leave the first working pin roll and are carried by the maincylinder 42 and are still on the surface or ends of the pins of the maincylinder, and although the second working roll 45 is traveling at a ratefaster than the first working pin roll, it is still at a rate slowerthan the main pin roll 42. Consequently, a similar action will occur byreason of the fibers being picked up by the slower second working pinroll 45' with the fibers entering the pins at 58 of this slower workingpin roll 45 and again receiving a drafting and combing action. However,as the fibers leave the last of the working pin rolls, the

position of the delivery rolls is such that the fibers are then drawninto the pins of the main pin roll as at 59, and as the deliverymechanism is traveling faster than the surface speed of the main pinroll, the fibers will be drawn through the pins of the main pin roll andwill be combed and drafted again. The ratio of surface speeds of the pinrol'ls may be as 17 is to 12.

Three drafting and combing action thus occur with two worker rolls,there being one additional combing and drafting action than the numberof worker rolls as 45, 45.

The rotary pin cylinder or drum 42 and the fluted steel rolls 47, 48 aremounted in suitable fixed bearings. The rubber covered roll 49 ispressed toward the fluted rolls 47, 48 by springs 65 engaging pivotedlevers 66 which bear on the ends 67 of the roll 49. The bearings 71 forthe working pin rolls have an upward projection 72 passing through aslot 73 in a plate 74. This projection 72 is provided with a threadedbore which receives the screw 75 mounted in bearings 76 and 77 enablingit to be rotated but not moved axially. Thus, when the screw 75 isrotated which may be by means of a head 78, the bearing 71 will be movedalong the slot 73 to move the working pin roll toward or from the maincylinder 42. In all cases, however, the working pin roll will have itsteeth clear the teeth of the main pin roll a predetermined gaugeddistance dependent on the character of the work.

A drive for the machine may be provided as shown in FIG. 2 from motor 80to the right angularly extending shafts 81, 82 and thence to the heads.Head 35 is belt or chain driven as at 83 to the front fluted roll 48 onshaft 84; thence by gears 85, 86, 87 drives rear fluted roll 47, andfrom shaft 84 drum 42 is driven by gears 88, 89, 90. The coiler isdriven by positive means 91 from shaft 84.

A similar drive occurs for the four parallel heads by chain 95 or otherpositive means to the driving shaft 96 upon which all of the frontfluted rolls of the four heads are mounted, while all rear fluted rollsof the four heads are driven by shaft 97 through gears 98, 99, 100, andall main main pin drums are driven on shaft 101 driven by gears 102,103, 104 from shaft 96.

I claim:

1. In a drawing frame for textile slivers, a guiding surface with whichthe entering work engages, a driven pin cylinder, delivery rolls forgripping and delivering the work from the cylinder, said pin cylinderbeing of a diameter substantially larger than the diameter of thedelivery rolls and offset from a straight line between said guidingsurface and delivery rolls sufficiently to provide an arc of workcontact greater than to force the work into the pin cylinder and overthe upper surface of which pin cylinder the work extends and by whichthe work is fed, said delivery rolls having a surface speed greater thanthe surface speed of the pin cylinder to attenuate the slivers betweenthe pin cylinder and the delivery rolls.

2. In a drawing head for textile slivers as in claim 1 wherein the pinson said cylinder are of the type of card clothing.

3. In a drawing head for textile slivers as in claim 1 wherein a workingroll having pins is located at a gauged distance from the pins of thepin cylinder and is adjacent the attenuation of the slivers by thedelivery means.

4. In a drawing head for textile slivers as in claim 3 wherein the pinson said working rolls are of the type of card clothing.

5. In a drawing head for textile slivers as in claim 3 wherein theworking roll travels at a surface speed slower than the surface speed ofthe pin cylinder.

6. In a drawing head for textile slivers as in claim 3 wherein there area plurality of working rolls traveling at a surface speed slower thanthe surface speed of the pin cylinder.

7. In a drawing head for textile slivers as in claim 3 wherein there area plurality of working rolls traveling at a surface speed slower thanthe surface speed of the pin cylinder and at different surface speedsfrom each other.

8. In a drawing frame for textile slivers, a main driven pin cylinderhaving pins extending therefrom, means for guiding the slivers to saidcylinder, delivery means for gripping and delivering the slivers fromthe cylinder, working rolls having pins located at a gauged distancefrom the pins of the main cylinder and all of said working rolls beingcloser to the delivery means than to said guiding means, said workingrolls traveling at a surface speed slower than the surface speed of themain cylinder and at different surface speeds from each other.

9. In a drawing frame as in claim 8 wherein means is provided fordriving the work contacting surface speed of the delivery means greaterthan the work contacting surface speed of the main cylinder to draw thefibers thru the pins of the main cylinder.

10. A drawing frame for textile slivers comprising a pair of gaugedspaced rotating pin surfaces, means for rotating said pin surfaces atdifferent speeds, said faster pin surface providing feeding pinsengaging the slivers and drawing them through the pins of the slowermoving pin surface for drafting the slivers and means subsequentlyengaging the drafted slivers and moving the slivers faster than thesurface speed of the feeding pins for drawing the slivers through thepins of the feeding surface to obtain a second drafting of the slivers.

11. In a drawing frame for textile slivers, a main driven pin cylinderhaving pins extending therefrom, means for driving the pin cylinder,means for guiding slivers fed to said cylinder, a working roll havingpins gauged from the pins of the main cylinder, means for driving saidroll at a surface speed less than the surface speed of the main cylinderpositioned to engage the slivers so that the slivers are drawntherethrough, means to deliver slivers from the main cylinder at asurface speed greater than the surface speed of the main cylinder and ata location to draw the slivers through the pins of the main cylinder.

12. In a drawing frame as in claim 11 wherein there are a plurality ofworking rolls.

13. In a drawing frame for textile slivers, a main driven pin cylinderhaving pins extending therefrom, means for driving said cylinder, meansfor guiding slivers fed to said cylinder, a Working roll having pinsgauged from the pins of the main cylinder, said pins on the maincylinder and working roll being inclined rearwardly from a radiusadvancing in the direction of surface movement thereof, means fordriving said working roll in the opposite direction of rotation and at.a surface speed less than the surface speed of the main cylinder, saidworking roll being positioned to engage the slivers so that the sliversare drawn through the pins of the working roll, means to deliver sliversfrom the main cylinder at a surface speed greater than the surface speedof the main cylinder and at a location to draw the slivers through thepins on the main cylinder.

14. In a drawing frame as in claim 13 wherein there are a plurality ofworking rolls.

15. A drafting system comprising a plurality of heads each of which isadapted to receive a plurality of slivers and a second head adapted todirectly receive the work delivered from said plurality of heads, eachof said heads being similar and comprising a main pin cylinder and aworking roll to comb and attenuate the slivers received, and deliveryrolls to draw the sliver thru the pins of the main pin cylinder, saidlast head delivering at least one end of the blended and draftedslivers.

16. A drafting system as in claim 15 wherein the said second head isdriven relative to said plurality of heads to maintain tension on thework delivered from said plurality of heads.

17. A drafting system as in claim 15 wherein the work delivered from theplurality of heads is guided in a parallel relation to said second head.

18. A drafting system as in claim 15 wherein said last head delivers aplurality of ends of blended and drafted fibers.

1-9. In a drawing frame for textile slivers, a main driven pin cylinderhaving pins extending therefrom, means for guiding the slivers to saidcylinder, delivery means for gripping and delivering the slivers fromthe cylinder, working rolls having pins located at a gauged distancefrom the pins of the main cylinder and adjacent the delivery means, saidworking rolls traveling at a surface speed slower than the surface speedof the main cylinder and the working roll nearest the delivery meanstraveling at a surface speed greater than the surface speed of apreceding working roll.

20. In a drawing frame for textile slivers, a main driven pin cylinderhaving pins extending therefrom, means for guiding the slivers to saidcylinder, delivery means for gripping and delivering the slivers fromthe cylinder, Working rolls having pins located at a gauged distancefrom the pins of the main cylinder and adjacent the delivery means, saidworking rolls traveling at a surface speed slower than the surface speedof the main cylinder and the surface speed of each working roll beingprogressively slower as it is more distant from the delivery means.

21. The process of treating condensed homogeneous slivers as taken froma yarn converting machine which comprises engaging the slivers withfeeding pins and moving said pins to draw the slivers through othersimilar pins and then engaging the slivers and drawing the sliversthrough said feeding pins to straighten and attenuate the fibers at eachdrawing step.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 755,347 3/1904 B-eitenholz 191283,128,506 4/1964 Brandt 19243 1,737,435 11/ 1929 Schofield 19992,728,112 12/1955 Berker 19l57 XR FOREIGN PATENTS 2,576 6/ 1876 GreatBritain. 13 ,822 1851 Great Britain. 18,132 8/ 1897 Great Britain.

7 03, 1 39 2/ 193 1 France. 1,127,219 8/1956 France.

MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner.

I. C. WADDEY, Assistant Examiner.

